Page 278 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

276  EASTERN INDIA

3 Nilhat House economist Amartya Sen, who
won the Nobel Prize for
Behind Old Mission Church.
Auctions held from 9am–6:30pm Economics in the 1998.
Tue–Thu. Prior permission required Across the road is the dark,
from brokerage houses, J Thomas. cavernous Indian Coffee House,
Tel (033) 2248 6201. the favourite haunt of the city’s
intelligentsia since it opened
A tea auction centre, Nilhat House in 1942. Even today, waiters in
stands on the site of an indigo shabby cummerbunds serve
trading house (nil means indigo, endless cups of strong coffee
while hat is market). It dates to to teachers, students, writers
1861; only the tea auction houses and poets.
in London are older. Tea has Down a lane opposite
always played an important role Presidency College is the
in the state’s economy, especially Sanskrit College, founded in
in the colonial period. But even 1824 to promote the study
Neo-Classical St John’s Church with today, the bidding for teas from of ancient Indian languages,
its soaring spire Darjeeling and the Dooars in history and culture. Its ground
northern Bengal and Assam (see floor has a small display of
2 St John’s Church pp266–7) is brisk. The auction medieval Hindu sculpture
prices are determined by the and palm-leaf manuscripts.
2/2 Council House St. Tel (033) 2243
6098. Open 8am–5pm. 5 8am Sun opinions of tea tasters, whose Next to Presidency College
(with Holy Communion). highly trained palates can are the buildings of Calcutta
immediately distinguish the type, University, founded in 1857.
The first parish church in plantation and year of each brew. Today, the gracious 19th-
Kolkata, St John’s Church was Visitors can view and participate cen tury main structure is
established in 1787. It boasts an in these animated proceedings dwarfed by modern high-rise
impressive stained-glass panel with prior permission. additions, through which the
of The Last Supper, in which the old edifice, with its Ionic pillars
artist Johann Zoffany has given and symmetrical proportions,
the 12 disciples the faces of 4 College Street is barely visible.
British personalities famous in Bidhan Sarani, North Kolkata. On the ground floor, the
the city at the time. Ashutosh Museum: Tel (033) 2241 Ashutosh Museum specializes
St John’s has many associations 0071. Open 10:45am–4:30pm in the art of Eastern India. The
with the history of the English Mon–Fri. & exhibits include a fine collection
East India Company. Warren of terracottas, bronzes, coins,
Hastings, Governor of Bengal, was As the location of Kolkata’s elite old manuscripts and some
married here. In the churchyard educational institutions, College exquisite examples of kantha
is a memorial to Lady Canning, Street is the heart of Bengali (a quilting technique) and
the vicereine, who died in 1861. intellectual life. The pavements Kalighat paintings, or pats
Her name lives on in popular are crowded with stalls selling (see p283).
memory because she was much textbooks, exam guides,
addicted to a fried, syrupy classics and second-
sweetmeat, which was named hand books of all kinds
after her (it is pronounced – some people even
“leddy-kenny” in Bengali). The claim to have
mausoleum of Job Charnock discovered valuable
(see p274) also stands here. first editions. Many of
A short distance away is the Kolkata’s best bookshops
memorial to the victims of the are also found here.
notorious “Black Hole Trag edy”, The Presidency
an event that became one College was established
of the favourite horror stories here in 1817 and was
of the Raj. When Siraj-ud-Daula, then known as the
the Nawab of Bengal, captured the Hindu College. Started
old British fort that stood on the as an institution for the
site of the present General Post city’s rich, who wanted
Office (see p275) in 1756, their sons to receive a
he imprisoned over 100 British Western-style education,
inhabitants in a small, airless it boasts as alumni great
cell. Only 23 people were found scholars, scientists and
alive the next morning – the writers such as film
rest had died of asphyxiation director, Satyajit Ray
and thirst. (1922–92) and A second-hand bookstore on College Street
For hotels and restaurants in this region see p697 and pp710–11

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